Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A cicada emerges!

Tonight I got a call from the neighbor behind us, he said, "There's something on my porch railing that is coming out of its skin!" That really piqued my interest, it didn't take me long to get down there with my camera to check it out. I was excited to see that it was a male cicada coming out of his shell after living several years underground. I got a kick out of the position he was in, he looked like a body builder flexing his muscles! Actually it was his still-crumpled wings hanging below, they were taking in fluids and getting larger as we watched.

Finally he grabbed onto the old skin and flipped over, this would allow his wings to dry in a natural position. I know it was a male because of the flat plates on the abdomen, they will be used to make the sound to call a female in the very near future! The 3 red dots in the middle of the cicada's head are his simple eyes, they are used to determine light and dark.

On Sunday afternoon Kenny and I went to Haw Ridge to do a short hike. I found an unusual nymph of some sort, perhaps a katydid. It was very brightly colored and had extremely long back legs. Insects make the world a much more interesting place! :)

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Thank you for visiting my Nature Reporters blog! I hope you enjoy seeing the wonders of nature that I capture with my camera. All photos and text (unless stated otherwise) are work of the author and cannot be reproduced without written permission.